Twinkin’ Ain’t Easy

01Nov

..N’aw, but it sure is fun.

Making a twink, a true twink, is a time investment just like any other project that you set out to achieve in WoW. Sometimes the time investment is small, especially at lower levels, but sometimes it’s a very long and sometimes even hard process. Just like farming for raid drops or doing arenas for PvP gear, you never know what kind of surprise obstacles or opponents you might have to face and RNG follows its own desires, bowing to no one.

My twinking bracket of choice has been level 19 from the first time I was introduced to the concept of twinking and non-world PvP in general. With the (fairly) recent addition of Free to Play accounts and the level 20 twinks that spawn from them as well as the changes to the PvP brackets to be split into 5-level spans rather than 10, I’ve found that I actually enjoy the 20-24 bracket even more than I do the 19.

Today I wanted to give you a quick glimpse at the 24 twinks that I’ve been working on this past week and also to talk about some of the challenges that you’ll face in this particular bracket.

Securitygard is currently my “main twink”, the one I’m enjoying the most and have done the most farming with to obtain his gear. In that screenshot he’s actually wearing his LFG gear, but a lot of the pieces are shared among the seven gear sets that he currently has.

I initially wanted him to be Holy, but something didn’t quite feel right so I took him down the Protection tree instead. I’m currently working on a more heavily strength-based set of gear for him right now so that I can try him out as Retribution as well, but I’m definitely satisfied with the performance of Prot at the moment.

I’m pretty satisfied with the majority of his gear, except for the rings. Gnomer runs haven’t been all that kind to him in the ring department thus far. I really hate the look of those green boots, so I’m looking forward to transmogrifying those away. With the exception of those Gnomer rings, the only thing that was hard about farming his gear was finding out where all the quests linked together in Duskwood to be able to open the quests that I needed for my gear.

The major challenges he’s facing right now include: AGM trinket farming to replace Rune of Duty, and continued Gnomer farming for rings (2x Charged Gear of the Bear, +7 Stam, +6 Str).

Bubble was actually my first 24 Twink, which is why she’s also the only one with maxed professions. I have farmed a good portion of her gear, but not all of it. I have been very impressed with her BG performance since I made the switch from Discipline to Holy. Discipline is a very powerful spec early on because of the stat scaling with the strength of Power Word: Shield and the relatively low burst damage classes are capable of, and Penance is a very versatile spell (not to mention one of the coolest looking/sounding animations in the game). However, Holy brings significantly stronger healing via talent points, a chance to proc free and instant Flash of Light casts, a 2 minute cooldown that instantly restores 30% of your health, and Holy Word: Chastise which is an instant cast that both deals damage and interrupts the target.

Gear is actually one of her biggest issues because deciding on which pieces are the best isn’t as clear cut as most of the other classes. There’s a pretty good balance in the available gear, which makes it hard to decided whether you want +2 Stam versus +1 Intellect versus +5 Crit, and so on.

She’s had the same rotten luck in Gnomer that Securitygard has in regards to the Charged Gear rings. I would really like to get her a pair of the +6 Intellect, +7 Stamina rings out of there eventually. She’s also in line for the AGM trinket, which unfortunately has a lot of competition on Durotan.

Cowchpotato is my most recent project, who I was prompted to level after seeing another Tauren Shaman in action. I really like the male Tauren’s casting animations for some odd reason, so I bumped him up the chain ahead of Gutlikefish (Blood Elf Rogue). I’m still undecided right now whether I want to leave him as Resto or if I might be better off going with a DPS spec. I really like Resto, but at the same time it just feels like it moves too slow and is too weak in comparison to my other twinks. I’m going to give Elemental a shot next, and then I might see how mean I can make a two-handed Enhancement since I don’t have decent weapons for him to dual wield.

Gear is once again a major concern, only this time there’s a twist – enchants. Cowch is on a different server, which means that I don’t have access to all of the enchants that I spent so long farming and buying on Durotan. I do have an enchanter there, and I have been farming for recipes on him as well, but I’m missing some pretty key enchants there. I also don’t have access to more than just a handful of heirlooms, as you can see from the fact that I’m wearing a cloth robe instead of a leather/mail piece. I hate wearing off-suit gear when I know there’s an equal or better option available. I’m farming honor for that on my 85 Druid, but I’m taking my time so I don’t get burned out on farming.

The gear itself has been an issue for him too. Some of the items that I researched as being his best gear is listed in Wowhead as being available in the current patch, but I just cannot figure out where their chains start. I read up on all of the comments and did everything I found in there, but I still can’t find the start for either his belt of his gloves.

Gnomeregan – City of Random Loot
If you’re at all interested in twining in the 20-24 bracket, then Gnomer is one place you definitely want to keep an eye on. You F2P people out there don’t have to worry about it since all of the boss drops require at least level 24. For the rest of you, Gnomer is where it’s at. Here you’ll find gear with some of the highest attribute totals, highest bonuses to secondary attributes, and some of the best On Use and proc abilities available in this bracket.

Most of the blue drops from Gnomer do have set attributes, and most of the more highly sought after drops here have a decent drop rate. However, some of the best gear from Gnomer are blues with random enchants, and one of those only drops from a rare spawn.

The Charged Gear will be the most commonly farmed item here as most twinks are looking to get their hands on a pair of them. This ring always has +4 Arcane and Nature Resistances on it, and then the random enchant which can be anything from +10 to a single stat, to +6-7 to two stats, to +12 Dodge. Most players will look for balanced rings that give 6-7 Stamina and their primary attribute, though some classes (Rogues, Hunters, Mages) tend to lean towards +10 to their primary attribute.

The Emissary Cuffs are the leather gauntlets of choice for any class wearing them. These bracers always have 5 Arcane Resistance, plus their random enchant. The enchants available are basically the same as the Charged Gear, except that all of the values have been reduced by 1. Again, the “norm” is to look for a balanced enchant that offers +5-6 to Stamina and your primary attribute, with some exceptions made for those looking to max out their attack stat and/or their crit chance. Note that when you look at this item on Wowhead, it will only have two enchants listed by the item, but you can find the real list of available enchants in the comments section.

Bracket Challenges for 20-24
There are a few new challenges that you’re going to face in the 20-24 bracket that you’re probably not used to if you’ve been running 19’s.

Interrupts is first on the list, because there are a lot of classes that have them now. If you’re a caster, prepare to be interrupted. A lot. Rogues and Shamans are the most common source of this followed by Mages (who’ll also Silence you) and Feral Druids, but you’ll also get it from several other classes in the form of crowd control.

Which brings us to number two, Crowd Control. Rogues gain a slow (Crippling Poison), Shamans gain a slow (Frost Shock), and Warlocks get a charm (Succubus) and a talented AoE stun for Destro locks (Rain of Fire).

Increased Health Pools is both good and bad. You’ll see average health pools of about 1,000 (give or take 200) in this bracket from all of the F2P accounts, about 1,500 from your average partial-twink or glass cannon build, and 2,000-3,000 from full twinks and those built around survival. If you’re a damage dealing class/spec that doesn’t have a whole lot of burst to your name then this can pose a real problem for you.

Premades are another real threat in this bracket. Because of the new focus on F2P twinks, people have started making level 24 Twink guilds to combat them. There’s a bit of a spike of these twink guilds right now with the popularity of F2P, but there’s a good chance it will die down over time. I’m not saying premades are common in this bracket, only that they’re more common here right now than in 19’s.

Carrying On
I’ll continue to farm the items I need and the professions I’ve been slacking on for the three twinks that I mentioned here. I’m going to play around with the spec for a couple of them as well, just to make sure I’m playing the one that I enjoy the most for each of them. I’ll probably have updates of some kind to share with you as I go along as well.

I have one more twink that I know for sure I’m going to roll, though I haven’t decided on the class just yet. I want to go with either a Rogue, Hunter, or Feral Druid. I’m leaning mostly towards the Rogue, but both of the other two are appealing as well. What do you think? Rogue, Hunter, or Feral?

[Edit: Removed Skull Bash from the CC list, added it to the Interrupts list.]

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6 responses to “Twinkin’ Ain’t Easy”

ambient

November 1, 2011 at 10:41 AM

Posts like this always make me want to try twinking! I’ve leveling via BGs but never locked XP before.

Unfortunately, I don’t have much character space on my server with heirlooms…but I have one with a high level friend and a decent nest egg, so I can farm and purchase anything. Could I make a go of it without heirlooms, or are the farmable alternatives truly inferior?

Also, are there any classes you don’t recommend for either of these brackets? (Though who am I kidding, I’ll probably roll my umpteenth priest!)

Twinking can be a lot of fun. In some cases it’s no different that not twinking, while in others you can really see strategy and teamwork being used and it just ramps up the competitive feeling of the game as a whole.

You can definitely handle twinking without heirlooms. Yes, you will be less powerful than those who do have them, but not always by as much as people like to believe. Heirlooms are designed to be competitive at every level, but that doesn’t always mean that they’re actually superior to other drops for a specific level. Even when they are superior, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the options for alternative gear are bad.

Most classes will do just fine in either. If you’re going to twink though, some classes have a definite disadvantage that’s typically related to either their survival, damage output, or a combination of the two. And some of those classes make up for that with talents in the second tier that are available in 24’s but not 19’s.